These twelve porcelain plaques are all decorated with flowers and a green ground. They were bought by the luxury dealer Philippe Poirier between October and December 1762, and it was probably he who mounted them in the current oak and gilt-bronze frame as an inkstand (see F286). This probably makes it the earliest example of Poirier mounting an inkstand like this. From 1764 these plaques were known at Sèvres as 'plaques d'ecritoire', when the practice of porcelain-mounted inkstands was more widespread.